| Prayer Points for
June 2009
PRAYING FOR WOMEN IN CENTRAL ASIA
In the depressed Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, it is difficult for women to find work even with a college degree. Most girls marry soon after secondary graduation. Parents prefer a future bride learn skills like dressmaking and nursing. Strong homemaking traditions are very common, especially in rural areas. A wife is vulnerable to her husband’s superiority and his cruelty, as well as to those of other family members living in the home.
The economical crisis in Kyrgyzstan and the decay of the social services, such as education and health care, have led to a worsened status for women. The distressed situation in Turkmenistan is forcing many women to accept undesirable jobs where they are often humiliated, violently attacked and receive very little in wages.
Official statistics from Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs report that there were 26,000 cases of domestic violence in the first half of 2008. Uzbekistan’s Institute of Case Studies for War and Peace reports that suicide among Uzbek women is increasing. According to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic, “99% of the women who commit suicide do so because of tyranny within the family.” If a woman decides to divorce her husband or to report him to the authorities, she is often blamed for the problems and told to be patient and humble.
In Tajikistan, a 19 year-old woman committed suicide after a bad argument with her new husband. Conservative views in rural areas marked her as a dishonored woman and an outcast. With no moral support, a woman is often driven to her limits, and this particular woman set herself on fire in an act of despair. According to a sociological poll, about 70% of the women in Tajikistan endure daily violence.
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